Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



H. B. WEAVER.

Breach-Loading Fire-Arm,

No. 13,691. Patented Oct. 16, 1855'.

N.PI'ERS. FHOTO-LITHOGRAPMER; WASHINGTON, D. CV

UNITED STATES i ATENT ENCE.

H.' B. WEAVER, or soUTH WINDHAM, CONNECTICUT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 3,69l, dated October16,1855.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.:

Beit known that I, H. BVEAVER, of South Vindham, in the county ofVindham and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Breech- LoadingFire-Arms; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, ofthe breech and lock of a gun constructed according to my invention. Fig.2 is a transverse section of the same, taken close in rea-r of thepriming-slide.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre- V sponding parts in bothfigures.

This invention consists in certain contrivances for effectingV thecooking of the hammer simultaneously with the opening vof alaterally-swinging chamber, and for operating a priming-slide to supplypercussion-caps or other priming from a magazine.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

Ais the chamber, which is formed in one piece with or attachedpermanently and solidly to the breech, and is hinged by a hinge, a,parallel with its bore to the break-olil plate B, which connects .thestock and barrel. The front and rear ends of the chamber are faced toform parallel planes perpendicular in all directions to its bore, andthe chamber is fitted easily but closely in a parallel cavity formedbetween the rear of the barrel c and a shoulder, b, at the top of thebreak-off plate, its front end forming a close joint with the rear ofthe barrel, and its back end fitting close up to the shoulder b, whichreceives the recoil. rIhe pivot of the hinge a., which has the chamberfirmly attached to it, carries a short lever-arm,c, (shownvbest in Fig.2,)which enters a slot in a sliding piece, d, which I call thepri1ning-slide, which serves both to prime and to effect the connectionbetween the chamber and the front end of a triggerguard lever, D, whichworks loosely on the main arbor e of the lock, and serves to effect allthe necessary movements except that of the hammer for exploding thepriming.

E is a tubular cavity, serving as a magazine for caps, arranged parallelwith the bore of down the rear end of the trigger-guard lever thisreceiving-hole is brought opposite the magazine, and a cap is forced,into it by the spring g, at the back of the magazine, and when it islowered by raising thetrigger-guard lever the hole it is brought betweenthe nipple j, which is on the breech, and a sliding pin, h, which standsin line with the nipple. The slide d is shown in Fig. l and in blackoutline in Fig. 2 in the last-described position, with a cap, i, betweenthe nipple and pin, ready to `be driven onv the nipple and exploded bythe hammer F, driving forward the pin h when it is liberated by drawingthe trigger. The hammer is thrown back and cocked by pulling down thelever D by reason of its being provided with a stud, 7o, standing outfrom each side, to be in the way of the forward part of lever D as itrises; but as there is no absolute connection between the trigger-guardand the hammer,the lever is allowed to be returned to its position as aguard, leaving the hammer cocked.

The connection of the lever D with the priming-slide d is effected bymeans of a stud, l, on the lever working in a hole, n, in a link, o,attached to the bottom of the slide.

In order to allow the sliding piu It to move back, which it must dobefore the slide d can move upward, the hammer must be drawn back somedistance before the lever, acts on the slide, -and for this purpose thehole n, which receives the stud Z, is elongated, as shown in Fig. l, sothat the lever, in drawing back the hammer, moves some distanceindependently ofthe slide. The pin is thrown back by a spring, m, coiledround it as the hammer recedes, and by the time the pin h is clear ofthe slide the stud Z arrives at the top of the hole n, and the movementof the slide and the swinging aside of the chamber toward the positionshown in red outline in Fig. 2, in which position it receives thecharge, commence. The opening of the chamber and the cooking of thehammer are completed at the same time, and as soon as thechamber isloaded the lever D may be raised to its position as a guard,(sho\vn inFig. 2,) leaving the hammer cocked. As the hammer and Whole of the lockis shut up, I allou7 the arbor eto protrude through the covering-plateof the lock for the purpose of carrying a small thumb-lever, G, Which isrepresented in dotted outline in Fig. l, to enable the hammer to beuncooked and cocked by hand independently of the lever D, the chamber,or the priming-slide.

In constructing the lever D care should be taken'to prevent the pin lo,when the hammer strikes, from striking the said lever, and for thatpurpose it Will be seen, by looking at the red outline o f the hammer inFig. I, that I have left a little room in the bottom of the recess p inthe lever Whiclrreceives the pin.

Having thus fully described my invention, I will proceed to state what Iclaim and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. Though I do not claim theinvention 0f the priming-slide d, I claim combining the hammer with thelaterally-swinging chamber for the purpose of effecting the simultaneousopening of the chamber andcocking of the hammer by means of the lever D,the pin k, the slide d, and lever-arm c, all operating substantially asherein described, Whether the said slide d be a priming-slide or simplyemployed to connect the chamber A with the lever D.

2. Combining` the priming-slide d with the lever D and the hammer F bymeans of a pin, Z, attached to the lever Working in a slot, n, in theslide, or a link attached thereto, so that the lever D will draw backthe hammer before moving the slide far enough to allow the pin h or itsequivalent, through which the hammer strikes the cap, to move out of thereceiving-hole in the slide before the slide 'is acted upon by thelever, substantially as herein set forth.

H. B. WEAVER..

Vitnesses:

I. HATCH, F. B. VEAvER.

